Meet Professor Sarah Smith

By: Elizabeth Patrick

I am excited and proud to introduce you to Professor Smith. Smith is a professor here at Defiance College and is in the Teacher Education Program. Professor Smith grew up in Milford, Ohio, and lives in Oakwood, Ohio. She completed her undergraduate at Ohio University. She also has a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Cincinnati. To go along with her Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction, she also has her Master’s degree from the University of Toledo in school psychology. She is married to her husband, Steve, and they have two dogs named George and Harvey. She also has a slew of brothers and sisters and one adorable little nephew.
Throughout her teaching career, she has taught at various schools. She was a fourth and fifth-grade teacher at Piqua City Schools. After teaching at Piqua, she moved back home to be with her family and taught 7th grade at Felicity Franklin Schools. She then switched to 6th grade at Georgetown Exempted Village for a year. After this, she married, moved up north with her husband, and taught at Lima North Middle School for two years. Currently, she is a full-time School Psychologist at Van Wert Middle School. To go along with being a full-time psychologist, she also teaches education classes here at Defiance College. These classes include EDUC 218 K-3 Social Studies Content and EDUC 454 7-12 Social Studies Methods.
Professor Smith decided on the teaching profession because she loves working with kids and influencing their lives. She also loves learning and sharing that learning with others. She changed careers into psychology because she felt her time in the classroom outran itself. Since students face so much trauma, she felt like school psychology was a role that she would enjoy immensely. Being a school psychologist also allows her to better serve students in need and be an influential role model in the student’s life.
Here at Defiance College, Professor Smith loves teaching future teachers and having small class sizes. As a result of the small class sizes, she believes that she can structure her classes around what students need. Professor Smith truly enjoys teaching here at Defiance College and helping future educators.